Not Too Late For A Happy and Prosperous New Year

Here it is, New Year's Eve, and most people are either out celebrating or have chosen a quiet evening at home with a good movie and a bowl of popcorn. But just in case you are on your computer, looking for ways to bring in the new year in Latin style, you have come to the right place.

A few weeks ago, in conversation with a friend who had spent time in South America, she shared a few New Year's Eve traditions that Latin cultures believe bring good things in the new year. Depending on your time zone, you still have time to make them happen before the new year.

For prosperity, eat 12 grapes at midnight, one for good luck each month of the year. Or, put jewelry in the bottom of your glass of champagne. And for heaven's sake don't swallow the jewelry in the glass, or you may be traveling to the emergency room, which is not a good indicator for the new year.

Want to travel more in 2012? Put a suitcase by the front door. I assume it's supposed to be an empty suitcase because one would pack very differently for Florida than for Alaska.

Throwing a bucket of water out the window at midnight will ward off back luck in the new year. Easy enough, but be careful not to throw it on anyone if you are above main floor.

One of the traditional foods for New Year's Eve in Spain is shrimp or prawns, so I am sharing a shrimp appetizer recipe that is easy and can be tossed together in just a few minutes. This is a variation of the Hasty Hots that my friend Susan is requested to make at every party. Guests will stand around the oven, waiting for the hot appetizers to come out from under the broiler and on to the serving plate. This will make 15-18 appetizers and can easily be doubled for a larger group.

 Hasty Shrimp-Hots Appetizer
1-1/2 cups chopped, cooked shrimp.
1/3 cup softened low-fat or non-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar or cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese blend.
3 T. fire-roasted tomato or chipotle salsa
2 tsp cream horseradish - if you have straight horseradish, start with 1 tsp. it's hotter and stronger.
1-1/2 T. finely grated white onion
dash of salt and fresh ground pepper
Mix all in bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

12-15 Fresh button mushrooms or 1/2" thick baguette slices, or a combination of both.

For stuffed mushrooms: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wipe fresh mushrooms with damp paper towel to remove any dirt. Remove and discard stems. Stuff about 1 T of shrimp filling in each mushroom cap and place each on baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes until tops are sightly brown and mushrooms are slightly soft. Serve immediately.

For baguette rounds: Heat broiler. Slice bread about 1/2 thick. Top each slice with about 1 T. of shrimp filling. Place on baking sheet and broil for about 2 minutes on 2nd from top rack, until slightly brown. Watch these closely so they don't burn.

Holiday Week Recipe #2 - Christmas Meat Pies

If you aren't reclining on a beach in Hawaii, and are looking for something a little different and just a little special for a holiday meal, here is the second recipe for the week. These mini meat loaves feature a touch of allspice, adding a subtle, slightly exotic flavor to an otherwise basic meatloaf recipe. The crust makes it special enough for a holiday meal.

 Christmas Meat Pies in Sour Cream Crust

Sour Cream Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
6 T cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch tiny pieces
Mix flour and salt together. Add the egg and sour cream to combine. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or two knives, or your shiny new mixer, until it is incorporated into the dough. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a bit more flour. If the dough is too dry add a tsp.of water. Roll into ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Meatloaf filling:
2.5 lbs. ground meat - you can use half beef and half pork or all beef.
2 eggs
1 cup fresh bread crumbs - left over bread torn up small or ground in the food processor will work.
1 cup finely chopped onion
2  cups finely chopped fresh button mushrooms
1 T. cream horseradish
1 large clove garlic, finely minced (or more if you like garlic)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1-1/2 tsp Rosemary leaves - if dried, pulverize it in the palm of your hand, if fresh, chop fine before adding.
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp dried  dill weed - (not dill seed)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ingredients together in large bowl until well combined. Form into free-form mini-meat loaves about 4 inches wide and 5-6 inches long - this will make 6 loaves. Place on baking sheet with rim - juices will run as the meat cooks. Place in preheated oven and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes until loaves are firm enough to handle, but not fully cooked.

While meat is cooking, roll dough out on flour covered board. You will need 18, 6" long strips, each about an inch and a half wide.

Remove meatloaves from oven and let cool 5 to10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Wrap each loaf with sour cream dough in whatever pattern you like, sealing the ends on the underside of each loaf. Use scraps of dough to cut leaves or other decorations for the top.Adjust oven temperature to 350 degrees. After loaves are wrapped in dough, place on greased baking sheet. Mix one egg with 3 T. milk in a small bowl.  Brush over the top of dough with pastry brush, to help the crust brown.

Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes until crust is brown and meat is cooked through. Interior temperature of meat loaves should be 160 degrees.

Serve with sauce - 2/3 cup low-fat sour cream mixed with 1/3 cup cream horseradish.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!

Every December I tell myself, "I am not going to bake up a storm this year!" And every year I bake up a storm. It's part of how I celebrate the holiday season and I'm lucky I have many friends and co-workers who don't seem to mind the resulting plates of cookies and breads. This year I have kept my new Kitchen Aid mixer pretty darn busy mixing up batters and doughs. 

I will be sharing two recipes for the holidays this week, both using my hot new stand mixer and both using allspice. The sweet recipe follows and I'll share the savory recipe in a day or two.

I have always used allspice in baking, and assumed it was a mixture of the usual suspects, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, therefore the name, "allspice". Not so! Allspice is the dried berry of an evergreen tree that smells like the combination of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and that is were it got its name. The dried berry from the tree, indigenous to North and South America, is common in many cuisines around the world courtesy Spanish explorers to the new world who transported the dried berries and the trees to many destinations. Ancient South American cultures used allspice in their embalming, but no danger of that effect taking in place as a result of the small amount used for cooking. 

I started with a basic pumpkin pancake recipe that I borrowed from Martha Stewart, and added pieces of cooked smoked sausage to the batter after it is poured on the pan. Then I added maple applesauce with allspice, which makes this dish. The combination of sweet and savory is one of the best things about a cooked breakfast.  This will serve 2-3 people, so double as needed for 4-6 people. If you don't want to add the sausage the pancakes with applesauce are delicious too.

Sausage Studded Pumpkin Pancakes with Allspice Maple Applesauce
1/2 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, browned and drained on paper towel.
Pancake batter:
1-1/4 cups flour
2  tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Mix dry ingredients in medium sized bowl.
Then mix the wet ingredients in small bowl and add to dry mixture. Don't over mix the wet and dry ingredients or the pancakes will be tough.
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
7 T. canned pumpkin
1 T. canola oil or melted butter

For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot nonstick pan over medium heat. Add a few pieces of the cooked sausage to each pancake while it is raw, and cook about 3 minutes or until bubbles form and pop on the top of the pancake. Flip over and cook another 2 or so minutes until lightly browned.

Applesauce, Maple and Allspice Pancake Topping
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 T. pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
Heat over low heat just until hot, no need to bring to boil. Serve warm over warm pancakes.